Friends are Forever, Love lasts a Lifetime
by LilyLorraine
Summary: I suck at summaries, but here goes: At age five Evelyn Nichols befriends the Weasley twins, and sixteen years later marries one of them. This the the story from the very beginning, with all the interesting bits, so you should hopefully find parts of this
1. Chapter 1

"I Evelyn Liana Nichols, take you, George Merlin Weasley to be my lawfully wedded husband…"

Whoa! Wait a minute! Shouldn't this story start at the beginning? How can a person be so thickheaded to ask 'at the beginning of what?' This story should start at the beginning of Evelyn and George's relationship, or should I say friendship. If it started with the wedding, all the good stuff that came before it would be missed.

So, now we're going to start on that fateful day, when George gave Evelyn a fireball candy. Ever wonder what might happen when you introduce a five-year-old muggle to a pair of five-year-old wizards? Well, you're about to find out…

Evelyn Nichols sat alone in the sandbox, piling up sand to make her own mountain. Not far from her twin boys sat whispering together on the grass.

For a five-year-old one of her favorite things to do was people watch, and she didn't like the way those boys kept glancing at her, not one bit. Every time one of them would look at her, they would both snigger and Evelyn didn't understand why they were laughing at her.

She mentally shrugged and went back to her mountain of sand.

After several failed attempts to make the mound taller then waist high, she flopped down in the sand. She thought about walking home and was about to stand up when one of the twins walked over and stood in front of her.

Evelyn looked up at the red-haired boy then at her pitiful mountain without saying anything.

"My name's George Weasley, and over there's my brother Fred." He said and Evelyn looked back up at him but still said nothing.

"Aren't you gonna tell me your name?" The boy asked, his face puzzled.

Evelyn stood up, and brushing the sand from her jeans said "You didn't ask for my name, so therefore I didn't give it." She moved to step around George, but he caught a hold of her arm and held her in place.

"Okay, I'm asking now. Me an' Fred would like to know your name." His brown eyes held hers in a steady gaze.

Evelyn finally relented. "My name's Evelyn Nichols. Everyone calls me Nikki though because my grandmother's name is also Evelyn." She explained and George released her arm.

He began digging around in the pockets of his trousers and eventually pulled out what looked like a piece of candy wrapped in foil. He took a hold of her hand and pressed the candy into her palm.

"A piece of candy for a new friend." He said then turned and walked back to his brother. After a few minutes the red-haired twins left the playground.

Evelyn walked over to one of the swings and sat down. She stared at the candy George had given her. She debated on whether to actually eat it or throw it in the garbage. Eventually her growling stomach won.

Swinging gently she unwrapped the candy and popped it into her mouth. Seconds later she realized she'd made a terrible mistake.

He tongue felt like it was on fire, but so did her scalp. Doing the only thing she could think of, she hopped off the swing and ran towards the small duck pond. She dunked her head in the water and opened her mouth. The taste in her mouth was terrible, but it was better then the burning.

After pulling her head out of the water, she walked back across the park to the bathrooms. There she found out why her scalp had been burning; the candy had turned her hair flaming orange and, it was still smoking.

Furious she pulled paper towels from the dispenser and made up her mind that the next time she saw the Weasley twins, she was going to get her revenge.

Over the next few days Evelyn would walk to the park after her mother had left for work. She would sit in the sand box and watch all of the children who came and went. The Weasley twins didn't show up for almost a week.

That day Evelyn had brought a mold and was attempting to make a sand castle. She watched them walk across the grass toward her. This time they had an older boy with them, presumably their brother because he had that same flame red hair.

She stood up and after brushing herself off, walked towards the small group.

"All right, Evie?" George asked and Evelyn paused in front of them. The twins had mischevious grins on their faces, but she pretended not to notice.

"Evie? No one's ever called me that before." She said, pondering the thought of that new nickname.

"Never?" The one she thought was called Fred asked, his head cocked to one side.

"Nope," She answered. "I've been Nikki since the day I was born."

"Hmm." George tapped a finger against his nose and looked like he was thinking about something.

They stood there for a minute or so before the older boy spoke up.

"Can we go sit down? I didn't even want to come here in the first place." He said, looking slightly annoyed.

Evelyn disliked him immediately.

She pointed to a picnic table over by the swings. "We can go sit over there."

They tromped over to the table, Evelyn walking in between Fred and George. Sitting down, she sat next to the nameless older brother.

They sat there talking about the mundane topics acceptable for three five-year-olds and a seven-year-old. George finally introduced the older brother, ("his name's Percy, but we call him Percy the Prat.") and they decided to make a play date for the next week ("Only this time we won't bring Percy.")

As the three brothers argued about leaving, Evelyn pretended to drop her barrette and went under the table to look for it. Once under the table she quickly untied the twins' shoelaces. Her plan was to tie the laces back together so that when they tried to walk away, they fell flat on their faces. She skillfully retied the laces into double knots, then crawled out from under the table.

Sitting back on the bench, she saw that the twins hadn't noticed a thing, but Percy that Prat had obviously won the argument. Fred and George mumbled their goodbyes and stood up.

Evelyn had to stifled a grin as they tried to walk away and ended up on their faces in the dirt. They looked back at her, puzzled expressions on their faces.

"You?" Fred asked, dirt streaked across his forehead. She nodded, a triumphant smile on her face.

"That's for the flame hair candy." She said and George's face broke into a proud grin.

"Well, I'll be damned, a muggle who can outsmart a wizard." He said in awe. She grinned back at him, and in that instant an unbreakable bond was formed.

For the next seventy or so years, no one, be they witch or muggle, ever saw the Weasley twins with Evelyn being somewhere in the middle.


	2. Chapter 2 The First Dance

"Oh Arthur! The wedding was just beautiful." Molly said, breathless with excitement. Arthur swung his wife into his arms and the two of them watched their son lead his bride into their first dance.

"Do you remember the first time she taught him to dance?" Molly asked her husband. He grinned down at her.

"That was a sight, wasn't it? Little Evie trying to teach those two oafs how to waltz. It was ten years ago, but, thinking about it, it seems like it was yesterday…"

"C'mon! I've seen ducks that have better foot work then that." Evelyn commented, watching Fred and George waltz around the garden.

She'd had to learn the waltz for her mother's annual Embassy Ball, and this year she was allowed to bring a friend. So since none of her schoolmates knew her as well as the Weasley twins, she decided to ask them to be her date.

That is if she could teach them to dance.

Her ten-year-old critical eye saw Fred almost trip over his own feet and George continually trod on his brother's toes.

After another few minutes of being stepped on, Fred pushed George away from him.

"Gerroff!" He snapped and rounded on Evelyn. "How much longer am I going to have to suffer this mundane torture?"

Before Evelyn could respond, Mrs. Weasley came out and called them into lunch. With a look of utter relief on both their faces, Fred and George hurried into the house. With a frustrated sigh, Evelyn followed.

In the kitchen, the twins grabbed a couple of sandwiches, each, then made a bee line up the stairs to hide in their room.

_Cowards_. Evelyn thought, grabbing a corned beef sandwich off the platter on the kitchen table and sitting down. She was joined seconds later by Mrs. Weasley, who sat down with a smile on her lips.

"Alright," she said. "Tell me what's on your mind."

Evelyn stopped in mid chew and looked at the woman she considered a mother figure.

"Tell you what?" She asked, her mouth full of corned beef.

"Swallow before you speak, dear." Mrs. Weasley reprimanded gently.

Evelyn swallowed what was in her mouth, setting the remainder of the sandwich on the plate in front of her.

"Tell you what, Mrs. Weasley?" She repeated.

Mrs. Weasley reached over and patted Evelyn's hand, and the young girl had a sense of being comforted by the mother she didn't have.

"Evie, you'll have to give my boys time before they'll be ready to join in your muggle world." Mrs. Weasley said, her voice soft.

"I don't want them to _join_ my world, Mrs. Weasley."

"Then why go to all the trouble of having them learn this waltz of yours?" The older woman asked, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

"W-well, I-I don't want them in my world totally, I-I just want them to participate for one night." Evelyn faltered, now mentally questioning herself why she had wanted the twins to learn the muggle dance.

"You know as well as I do, Evie, dear, that it would only take one night for Fred and George to wreck your muggle mum's perfect world."

Evelyn heaved a heavy sigh, she knew Mrs. Weasley was right. Knowing Fred and George, one of them would bring acid pops and hand them out to her mother's unsuspecting guests, while the other tried to engage the muggles in a game of exploding snap.

Mrs. Weasley knew Evelyn knew that she was right when she sighed. They both stood up and Mrs. Weasley hugged and kissed Evelyn before sending her up the stairs to fetch the boys.

"It's time to de-gnome the garden." She said matter of factly and shooed Evelyn up the stairs before turning to the dirty dishes in the sink.

The waltz forgotten, Evelyn, Fred, George, and their younger brother Ron, had a blast de-gnoming the garden (for a change). Fred and Evelyn got into a contest to see who could throw a gnome the farthest. Mrs. Weasley had to come out a few times and threaten to wallop the twins with her broomstick because they kept throwing the gnomes at Ron.

Mr. Weasley came home in time for supper and Fred and George kept bewitching their food to fly off their plates and pelt Ron. Evelyn had to stuff her napkin in her mouth to stifle her giggles.

After supper Evelyn went outside to wait for Mr. Weasley to take her home, while Mrs. Weasley made the twins clean up the mess the made, the muggle way.

She lay on the grass, her arms crossed under her head, listening to the gnomes sneak back into their holes. She was thinking about not wanting to go home, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a thin figure loom over her.

Evelyn looked up into the grinning face of George Weasley.

"Mum reckons we made you feel shoddy about teaching us that muggle dance. So I came out here to show you what I've learned." He held out a hand. Warily, Evelyn took hold of the hand and let herself be pulled to her feet.

"May I have this dance, miss?" He asked, his nose in the air and trying to sound as if he were part of the upper crust.

Smiling, Evelyn let him lead her into the dance, George humming a sound that sounded strangely like Brahms's Lullaby, and was very out of tune.

She let him pull her closer, and as he continued his horrible humming, a thought drifted through her mind, of how, years from now, George Weasley would make an excellent dance partner.


	3. Chapter 3 Broom Gone Missing Part 1

Fred Weasley watched his parents move on to the dance floor with a mischievous grin on his face. He loved big gatherings, especially when at least half the people present were muggles. He was about to stand up and try to find Lee Jordan when Angelina Johnson sat down next to him.

"What're you grinning at?" She asked, setting her bottle of butterbeer on the table in front of her.

"Nothing." He said and tried to stand up but Angelina held him back with a hand on his arm. Her eyebrows rose up to her hairline and she gave him an I-don't-believe-you look.

"I know you, Weasley, what're you planning to do to these poor muggles?"

Grinning broadly, he pointed to five spots on the wall of the circular ballroom they were sitting in.

"If you'll kindly notice, three of the five spots I just pointed to are rigged with Filibuster Fireworks. When I give the signal, Lee's gonna set fireworks off." He explained, leaning back in his chair, a smug grin on his face.

"What about the other two spots?" Angelina asked

"Other spots?" Fred questioned, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes Weasley. The other two spots. What are they?"

"Oh those!" He said and clapped his hands in mischievous glee. "Those would be hooked up to what muggles call flame throwers. They are hooked up to a timing device that is supposed to go off at midnight."

Angelina's jaw dropped and her eyes automatically flew up to the ceiling. Fred followed her gaze and chortled.

Don't worry, I had Charlie put an anti-flammable charm around the building." He said.

Angelina nodded as if what he had just said was commonplace. Talk turned to other things, and after several minutes Angelina pointed over at George and Evelyn who looked like they were in the middle of a heated argument.

"That looks like a pretty bad argument for newlyweds." She commented. Fred looked over at his brother and sister-in-law and snorted.

"You think that's bad? I can remember their first real fight." He said and Angelina leaned her arms on the table.

"I've seen and heard them fight before. Do you remember what the fight was about?" She asked.

"'Course I do," he said and Angelina leaned in closer to listen to the story. "It started a day or two before Christmas in our second year and Evelyn had come to saty at the Burrow over the holidays…"

Snow fell in fluffy white clumps around the Burrow. From her seat in the kitchen Evelyn could see Ron and Ginny building a snowman in the garden. Mrs. Weasley was at the stove whipping ingredients together for hot vegetable soup. Fred sat next to Evelyn, flipping through his potions book and muttering nasty things about Professor Snape.

"Stupid git…crummy essay on Shrinking Solution …would like to shrink his hideous greasy head."

Percy and Charlie were out in the back paddocks zooming around on their brooms and tossing a quaffle back and forth.

Evelyn leaned her elbows on the table and tuned out Fred's rantings. She hadn't heard a sound from George all mornings. Normally that wasn't a good thing. She had to figure out what evil twin number two was up to.

She excused herself and patted Fred on the shoulder as she passed him on her way to the stairs.

She walked up to the third floor and knocked softly on the second door on the right. From inside she could hear shuffling and a muffled thud followed by a string of curses. It was another minute before she heard a strangled "come in" from within.

Evelyn opened the door and grinned at the red-headed boy pretending to read his transfiguration book upside down.


End file.
